Arabs’ citizenship eligibility flip-flopped because courts inconsistently defined whiteness

Evidence

But the courts were not consistent in granting citizenship to Syrians. Arabs like South Asians had a unique history of being classified or denied naturalization because the courts were unable to agree on whether they were white. In Ex parte Shahid (1913), Faras Shahid, a Syrian immigrant, was denied citizenship because common knowledge was used by the courts to argue he was not white because of his darker skin tone and his inability to speak English. George Dow, also a Syrian immigrant, was denied citizenship by several lower courts, but in United States v. Dow (1915), the courts ruled based on scientific evidence that he was white. This was based on the intelligence he displayed to the courts but also because the courts decided Syria was geographically associated with Judaism and Christianity, and therefore those from Syria could become citizens (Lopez 2006). — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 89 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Courts accepted a Syrian applicant’s status as a White free person within the meaning of Rev. St. § 2169 because “fair or dark complexion should not be allowed to control, provided the person seeking naturalization comes within the classification of the white or Caucasian race, and [District Judge Newman] consider[s] the Syrians as belonging to what we recognize, and what the world recognizes, as the white race.” In re Najour, 174 F. 735 (N.D. Ga. 1909). But later, they rejected the Whiteness of a Syrian applicant and found that “the meaning of free white persons is to be such as would have naturally been given to it when used in the first naturalization act of 1790[,] … ​such persons as were in 1790 known as white Europeans.” Ex parte Shahid, 205 F. 812, 814 (E.D. S.C. 1913). — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 1428 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Islamic identity rendered immigrants non-white in citizenship cases regardless of legal test — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 154; Islamic identity exceeded skin color in rendering Arabs non-white for citizenship; Same-ethnicity petitioners were declared white in one court but not another (+18 more)

Broader Connections

• Early American courts inconsistently classified Syrians as white for citizenship. #exemplifies (0.94) — Saher Selod, Forever Suspect_ Racialized…, 89
• Courts disagreed across jurisdictions about whether Arabs were white #corroborates (0.93)
• Courts disagreed over whether Syrians counted as White for naturalization #exemplifies (0.92) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 1428
• Lighter skin and Christian identity secured citizenship privileges that darker or Muslim Arabs lacked #complicates (0.78)